UFC Influences Behind Controversial Roman Reigns Promo
WWE seems to have taken a leaf out of UFC’s book as they plan creative for Roman Reigns.
Coming off the back of his second consecutive Royal Rumble win Cody Rhodes came face to face with Seth Rollins on Raw. While it was assumed that Rhodes would be challenging Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, Rollins attempted to make his own sales pitch.
During the promo, Rollins put over that his World Heavyweight Championship was a real worker’s title, while Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Title was a “Hollywood” championship, more about being politically savvy.
On the following episode of SmackDown Reigns returned fire, dismissing the World Heavyweight Title as a consolation prize, and mocking Rollins for working tens times more, but making ten times less money.
These shots didn’t go unnoticed by fans, with many on social media wondering why WWE would allow Reigns to belittle Rollins and his World Championship.
However, it seems that the rivalry and Reigns’ promo were both very deliberate. A new report from Fightful Select quoted one “higher up” as saying the following:
“Look who we’re in business with now. That happens all the time. One champion has a reason their title is more valid than another’s. Perception is reality in that kind of situation. We definitely want to create that discussion. Do you value the guy who isn’t around as much and beat everyone, or do you value the guy who is around all the time and Roman didn’t actually beat? It’s not an accident.”
Roman Reigns Vs. The Rock Yet To Be Confirmed
In a stunning twist, shortly after his comments towards Rollins, Reigns was confronted by The Rock, with Cody Rhodes essentially stepping aside to let The Great One Challenge the Tribal Chief.
The move caused incredible anger on social media with fans across the globe calling out WWE for seemingly dropping Rhodes in favour of The Rock. Although, it’s been reported that the unrest is set to become part of the storyline. According to Dave Meltzer, the idea is to replicate Daniel Bryan’s WrestleMania 30 story with Cody Rhodes.